Eat curry, beat cancer – TAU study

Next time you order a curry dish at your local Indian restaurant, you’ll be happy to know that Tel Aviv University research shows you may be winning the fight against cancer, too.

According to the research, turmeric — the bright yellow spice in curry — combined with an arthritis drug may help treat cancer.

Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari of Tel Aviv University’s School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine found that curcumin – turmeric’s active ingredient – can fight cancer when used in combination with Celecoxib, a popular anti-inflammatory drug used to treat arthritis.

Lev-Ari and colleagues said the unusual combination helps alleviate the inflammatory response caused when cancer takes root in the body. The researchers said the treatment has had promising results in human clinical trials.

“Although more testing will be needed before a possible new drug treatment is developed, one could combine curcumin with a lower dose of a cancer anti-inflammatory drug, to better fight colon cancer,” Lev-Ari said in a statement.

The researchers said they hope their findings will help in the fight against all cancers.

“It has the promise of being an important life-extending therapy, particularly for non-curable pancreatic cancer, suggested by the very promising results we achieved for 20 pancreatic cancer patients,” said Nadir Arber of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

The findings were recently published in the journal, Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology.

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Viva Sarah Press reports on the creativity, innovation and ingenuity taking place in Israel. Her work has been published by international media outlets including Israel Television, CNN, Reuters, Time Out and The Jerusalem Post.